Analysts Examine How CIOs Can Lead in the Digital World During
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2013, October 6-10, in Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — October 7, 2013 —
Digital business applies unprecedented combinations of new technologies
to generate revenue and value, so its imperative that CIOs step up and
lead in the digital world, according to Gartner, Inc. The digital world
reshapes industries, reinvents business processes and models, and
creates business moments.

Gartner analysts examined the future of the digital world during the
opening keynote today at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, which is taking place
here through Thursday. They said that in the digital future, the
Internet of Things will become as active as humans and systems are on
the Internet today.

In the digital future, a human can talk to a thing such as requesting
a driverless taxi, just as easily as a thing such as a building, can
contact a human maintenance worker because the building predicts that a
surge in foot traffic means the garbage cans must be emptied soon, said
Hung LeHong, research vice president and Gartner Fellow.

Re-Invention of Industries

The Internet of Everything will re-invent industries at three levels:
business process, business model, and business moment.

Digital technology is improving our products, services and processes,
our customer and constituent experiences, and the way we work in our
enterprises and within our partner, Mr. LeHong said. We do what we
normally do, but digitalization allows us to do it better or develop
better products.

As companies digitize products and process, completely new ways of doing
business in industries emerge. Gartner analysts expect more
transformational changes as digital re-invents industries on the second
level-the business model level.

Mr. LeHong referenced Square, Bitcoin and Kickstarter as examples of
companies that have used digital to reframe the way old financial
institutions and venture capitalists work. He also mentioned that Nike
is playing on the edge of the healthcare industry with their connected
sporting clothes and gear.

The third level of digital re-invention is created by the need to
compete with unprecedented business velocity and agility. Gartner calls
this the business moments. They are transient opportunities exploited
dynamically.

Mr. LeHong used the example of large hotel chains such as Starwood,
Hilton, and Hyatt hotels who first had to compete against the first wave
of digital business models from the e-commerce era from sites such as
Hotels.com. The new digital business model created by companies such as
AirBnB is causing these hotel chains to compete against an expanding
inventory of rooms, not in other hotels, but in their customers own
homes.

A business moment can come from nowhere, yet are increasingly
everywhere, and are almost never the same in product, time frame or
competitor, Mr. LeHong said.

Every Company Will Become a Technology Company

Technology will enable companies to optimize business processes, create
new business models, and identify and exploit those business moments.
This is why every company will become a technology company.

Gartner analysts highlighted three technologies that CIOs should be
watching. They include the Internet of Things, 3D printing, and
automated judgment.

The Internet of Things creates a world where every non-trivial object
is smart and networked, said Nick Jones, vice president and
distinguished analyst at Gartner. These smart objects can sense and
report on their environment and status. Some can be controlled and all
provide new types of value to customers.

Some smart objects will be as simple as a sensor that tells someone when
their plants need water, and at the other end of the spectrum there will
be objects as complex as a persons car.

Gartner analysts said 3D printing meshes with business principals of the
digital world, and it will revolutionize industries as diverse as
fashion, retail, real estate, and the military.

3D printing lets you optimize business processes using new
manufacturing techniques. It lets you create new business models that
need agile short production runs, and it lets you support those unique
business moments with one-off manufacturing and personally customized
products, Mr. Jones said.

The Internet of Things will create tens of billions of new objects and
sensors all generating real-time data. Gartner analysts said that data
is money.

Its the source you mine for new business models and business moments.
Its the raw material from which you construct new products and
services. Its the evidence that enables you to visualize and optimize
business processes, Mr. Jones said. You wont have the time or
capacity to make all the decisions yourself. Computers can make
sophisticated decisions based on data and knowledge, and they can
communicate those decisions in our native language. To succeed at the
pace of a digital world, youll have to allow them to do so.